Hickory Point Users Still Must Pay To Play

TAVARES — The $2-per-carload charge at Lake County's Hickory Point Recreation Area continues to be a source of controversy.

The Lake County Water Authority, which built and operates the $4 million park between Tavares and Howey-in-the-Hills, is resisting efforts to relax the entry fee.

Nancy Abbott of Eustis recently took her case to the County Commission, contending the fee should be waived during special events such as Earth Day, which she's involved in organizing.

''I just don't like their attitude at the water authority,'' Abbott said last week.

Her complaints came three months after Commissioner Don Bailey said youth soccer players shouldn't have to pay to get into Hickory Point to use soccer fields that are being partly financed by county government.

Commissioners listened sympathetically to Abbott but said they have no jurisdiction over the water authority.

''That's all well and good, but I don't think it's any of our business,'' Commissioner Welton Cadwell said after hearing from Abbott and Will Davis, the authority's executive director.

Davis defended the authority's position that no exceptions be made. He said the revenue is needed to help offset operating costs at the park.

The only way groups staging events at Hickory Point can get the fee waived is to rent the park for a day at a cost of $1,500, he said.

That price may be too steep for groups operating on a shoestring, and Davis suggested to Abbott that she ask businesses to help.

''I think there's more than enough interest from the private sector,'' said Davis, who offered to donate $100 toward the daily rental fee for the Earth Day celebration.

Abbott also was turned down last year when she asked for the fee to be waived for a countywide Earth Day celebration. The April 16 celebration was at Wooton Park in Tavares.

''I want to say that the city of Tavares was very, very cooperative. They were wonderful,'' Abbott said.

In a March letter to Bailey, she wrote that ''the taxpayers of this county are being decidedly shortchanged when they have paid for a supposed county park and yet can't get in without paying an admission fee.''

Commissioner Richard Swartz floated the idea of the county and water authority co-sponsoring the event and picking up the $1,500 tab. No decisions were made last week.

Abbott is laying groundwork for next April's 25th anniversary of Earth Day.

Hickory Point would be the ideal location, she said, adding she hasn't given up trying to get the fee waived.

''I'm not dropping this,'' she said.

Situated on the west side of State Road 19 north of the Lake Harris bridge, the Hickory Point park opened in February 1992. It has boat ramps, a staging area, restrooms and parking spaces.

Attendance has increased since a 12,700-square-foot pavilion was completed in February. The two-story, wood-and-stone pavilion has helped boost attendance from about 400 to 1,700 a month, Davis said.

Bailey, who invited Abbott to address the issue at the County Commission meeting last week, didn't mention his own beef with the water authority. But he said he hasn't given up on his goal to have the $2-per-carload fee waived for soccer players.

The county has committed $100,000 to put several soccer fields on a 12-acre parcel adjacent to the Hickory Point site. The fields require grading, irrigation and special grass.